Print books and ebooks

The first Geraldine Steel murder mystery, Cut Short, came out in print in the UK in 2009. A fellow author suggested my publisher bring it out as a digital book. It seems strange to recall that five years ago I wasn't really sure what that meant. Nevertheless I sent a polite request to my publisher to bring my debut out as an ebook. No one thought it was important, but six months later the digital version duly came out. 'Of course your books don't sell on kindle,' someone in the know told me. As for me, I still had only a vague notion what a kindle was.

Exactly the same happened with Road Closed in 2010.

But reading habits were changing. When Dead End came out in 2011, the digital and print books were published on the same day.

By the time Death Bed appeared in print in 2012, the digital book had already  been available for six months.

This pattern has been repeated in 2013 and 2014 with digital versions of Stop Dead, Fatal Act and Cold Sacrifice available for download six months in advance of  print books.

Nowadays, no one says my titles 'don't sell on kindle'. Not only have the print books reached bestseller lists in the UK bookstore chains and on amazon, but the ebooks have reached Number 1 on both kindle and iTunes.

What has been your experience of ebooks, as a reader or an author? Do you own a kindle or a tablet? And where do you see the future of print books, and with them physical bookstores and libraries?

Links to all my books can be found on my website http://leighrussell.co.uk

See your name in print

How do you think Geraldine Steel spent New Year's Eve? Post your idea on Geraldine Steel fan page If your idea works it may appear in a future book. Your help will be acknowledged and you will receive a free signed copy of the book.

Shots Magazine

Thanks to Shots Magazine for posting this interview with me - we're talking about the art of writing crime fiction, the future of publishing, research, and lots more. Interview in SHOTS MAGAZINE

Dead End has arrived

I just received a copy of Dead End - the final version that has now arrived in bookshops. It looks fantastic (in my opinion!) and has already had some great reviews.
amazon.co.uk sold out as soon as the book arrived thanks to preorders, but have now restocked. So it's available on amazon as well as in Waterstones around the UK. Here's a link to the latest review, from Helen Hunt on Bookersatz and there are more below and on the No Exit site:
http://bookersatz.blogspot.com/2011/05/dead-end.html

The Goal Posts are Moving Again

The goal posts are moving again…

Once I would have grabbed at the chance of having a third novel published. With my first two titles still selling, am I becoming an established author, successful at last in my own small way? Dead End will soon be going to print, ready to hit the shelves next month. (What happened to the past six months? Publication date has been so far off for so long and now, suddenly, it’s almost here – How did that happen?)

When Cut Short was due for publication I remember being wildly excited. The whole episode felt like one huge party. It was such fun being a published author! To my surprise, the publication of Road Closed was, if anything, even more exciting. Now I was a real author with not one but two books to my name. (Is that the laughter of authors with multiple titles to their names?)

But with Dead End about to hit the shelves, everything feels different. It could be the after effects of pneumonia, but suddenly this author lark doesn’t seem like so much fun any more. Is it because third time around I know how much hard work lies ahead, with the publication of a new title? The promotion, book signings, talks, panels, interviews, and endless phone calls and emails… and the reviews! There have been 3 so far, all good, but that’s just the beginning…

I’m reminded of the Neil Sedaka song about missing the hungry years. The publication of Cut Short was such a thrill, but how can we measure success when the goal posts keep moving?

What has been your experience of publishing second and subsequent books? Did your excitement heighten or fade with each new title?

A Serious Business

In unusual circumstances, books can be published within weeks. Michael Jackson’s biography was clearly prepared in advance and given regular updates, right up until his death at which point I seem to recall there was a race to be the first to have a book on the shelves.
For most authors, the process takes longer. There is a time lag between delivery of the final manuscript and publication. So the manuscript for Road Closed was delivered in December 2009 for publication in June 2010.
Addicted to writing, I started on Dead End as soon as Road Closed was finished. By writing I refer not only to the secretarial task of committing words to paper or screen, but also to the thinking, research and editing that go into producing a book.
A year has passed and YESTERDAY I sent Dead End to my publisher for the proofs. The story that has dominated my thoughts for the past year is now out of my hands. Finished. Handed over. Delivered. Submitted. Gone.
Am I pleased with what I have achieved? Am I excited about the publication of my next book?
As is so often the case, reality is proving very different to my expectations. I would have expected to feel deliriously happy at submitting my manuscript - but “terrified” might be a more apt way to describe how I’m feeling right now!
True to form, I’m already working on my next book, due with my agent in a month’s time. I’m currently working on final edits for the book that follows Dead End. I’ll have to wait more than a few weeks to see that one in print but, in the meantime, you can guess what I’ll be doing... yes, the killer in my fifth book is already clamouring to be written.
The last thing I want to do right now is think about Dead End, as it prepares to be launched into the public domain, to run the gauntlet of reviews.
While writing is fun, I am beginning to realise that being an author is a serious business.
http://www.noexit.co.uk/authorpages/leigh_russell.php

On writing and... writing

Oxford University professor Kathryn Sutherland has thrown doubt over Jane Austen’s authorship of her novels, her scepticism based on an analysis of Austen’s letters. The theory seems to hinge on Sutherland’s expectation that Austen’s letters should be written in the same perfectly polished style as her books. But the letters, according to Sutherland, are “littered with misspelling and grammar errors”. The books are not. Therefore, Sutherland concludes, the books could not have been written by Austen. Sutherland goes on to quote from Austen’s editor, William Gifford, who wrote of a draft of Emma: “It is very carelessly copied… there are many short omissions which must be inserted.” He offers to “readily correct the proof for you.” From which Sutherland presumes that the books were at least in part written by the editor Gifford.
Oh dear.
I hope no one scrutinises my blog posts, emails, facebook comments, and tweets and compares them to my books. My books are by and large grammatically accurate, and my other ramblings aren’t. But would anyone conclude that my books were written by someone else? We don’t expect tweets and emails to be well-written, carefully considered literature. Why should Jane Austen’s private notes and scribblings be judged by different standards to those of today? Jane Austen’s letters weren’t written for publication. They were private. Why should she have written beautifully constructed letters in perfect elegant prose? Her books of course are another matter altogether and I daresay she – and her editor – checked and corrected them carefully.
Any serious author will acknowledge the help of their editor. Why should Jane Austen be any different?

The Fun of Being Insignificant

ROAD CLOSED came out two weeks ago and has already started to sell. Of course, I’m a very small scale operator in a world where the big players expect to sell tens of thousands of books every week. Still, there are only 5 copies of ROAD CLOSED left on amazon.co.uk where it’s had its first amazon review – 5 stars from a Top 50 Reviewer and Vine Voice who concludes the review: “Give Leigh Russell a try - I'm sure you will not be disappointed.”

It’s no secret that I completed the first draft of CUT SHORT in six weeks, and two weeks after I’d sent out the manuscript I received a phone call from a publisher who offered me a three book deal. After editing, rewriting and research, my first book hit the shelves and sold out so fast that it was reprinted three times in under a year. Following that success, ROAD CLOSED has just been published ahead of schedule as WH Smith’s Travel selected it for a promotion. I just received an email from the books manager of one branch where ROAD CLOSED has sold 115 copies in 2 days (OK, I was there signing, but still…)

I wonder if book sales are so exciting for the big names? I suspect not, because they must expect their books to sell in huge numbers. I’m still excited when one person buys one of my books. This has been a thrilling rollercoaster but my publishing deal turned up so suddenly and unexpectedly that I still can’t believe this wildly exciting experience is really happening to me. I only discovered my passion for writing three years ago when an idea for a story popped into my head and I began to write it down. Since then, I haven’t been able to stop writing. As Eugene Ionesco said, “A writer never has a vacation. For a writer, life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.”

I’ve heard it said that finding a publisher is like climbing a high mountain. Once you reach the summit, you see an even higher mountain ahead – book sales. This week is half term so I’m doing four book signings, giving a talk, appearing on a panel of bestselling crime writers, and completing the first draft of my third book. I enjoy giving talks and going to book signings, getting out and about meeting readers, but all this promotion is another demand on my time.

Sometimes I think I must be slightly insane… but I love writing and everything associated with it, and the pressure of limited time seems to help my creativity almost as much as a deadline from my publisher! Another benefit of being so busy is that I have no time to stress about how my second book will be received, and no time to worry about “writer’s block”. If I have a free hour or two, that’s it – I’m writing!

So my really exciting news is that I’ve just sent the COMPLETED first draft of DEAD END to my agent. Watch out for it in 2011 and, in the meantime, here are the links for CUT SHORT and ROAD CLOSED in case you want to take a look.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Short-Geraldine-Steel-No/dp/1842432710/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Closed-Leigh-Russell/dp/184243344X/

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Closed-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/184243344X/

Second Book Blues

See http://theliteraryproject.blogspot.com/ March 19 interview
The rollercoaster ride I've been on since I started writing three years ago doesn't seem to have slowed down with my second book. If anything, the pressure has increased. One difference is that I can no longer hide behind the excuse of being a novice. My latest reviewer on amazon wrote, very kindly, about CUT SHORT: "For a first book this is excellent. A well deserved five stars." Having lulled me into smug security at yet another great review, he added, "Of course the expectation will be much higher with book two." No pressure there, then!

I won't pretend my ego isn't concerned about how ROAD CLOSED is going to be received. (Like anyone would believe me if I did!) But I am also genuinely concerned that I have somehow gained a small but loyal following. Only today I saw CUT SHORT by LEIGH RUSSELL listed on a blog as one of that lovely blogger's four favourite books. To a new little writer like me, that's huge! CUT SHORT was listed by a Eurocrime reviewers as a Top Read of 2009. I could go on, but I don't want to sound smug when really I'm feeling concerned. Because a lot of readers enjoyed CUT SHORT and, as the reviewer on amazon pointed out, "expectation will be much higher with book two." And all I can think of writing in response to that is, "Oh heck!" I'm going to have to better than that, I hear you think.

Well, I'm confident that ROAD CLOSED (published this June) will be a lot more interesting than "Oh heck," but whether it will be enough of an improvement on CUT SHORT to satisfy my fans, remains to be seen. I hope I don't disappoint anyone. I actually rather like ROAD CLOSED. I certainly enjoyed writing it so I hope other people will enjoy reading it.

I'm very glad I have a third book in the pipeline so once ROAD CLOSED is published, I'll have something else to think about!

Living the Dream

You can read my web interview with bibliophile Helen J Beal http://bit.ly/8WWNH4 which appears after her review of CUT SHORT -
"I couldn’t put ‘Cut Short’ down – a thoroughly gripping, sprint paced, creepy thriller... Steel is a brilliant and sympathetic character the reader really roots for... A thoroughly satisfying read AND I have just pre-ordered Leigh’s next title, ‘Road Closed’ on Amazon."
Thank you, Helen!

If anyone had told me two years ago that I'd be sitting at my desk as a published author right now, I would have been surprised. The past eight months have been an amazing experience. Fortunately, CUT SHORT has sold well, and received good reviews. Recent ones include a man who advised readers to "Buy this book. Steal it. Whatever you do, read it" which made me laugh (Please don't steal my book!) and someone called Mary who praised me for "going for the jugular." I like that! Here's a link to a reading from CUT SHORT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW31xmq30yA

Yes, I've been very lucky so far.

Handing over ROAD CLOSED to be printed is rather different. Of course I was nervous about the publication of CUT SHORT, but that was a quick peek over the parapet. No one knew about it. I could duck down into anonymity again, hiding behind a pseudonym. With ROAD CLOSED, I have fans with expectations. And I no longer have the excuse of being a debut author, with its connotations of innocence, naivete and youth (ha!)

Yes, I'm living the dream. Yes, it's gone about as well as it could so far... and now my head is well and truly above the parapet.

No going back now.

So here I am, blogging and tweeting, emailing and linking, anything to avoid dotting the last i and crossing the final t of ROAD CLOSED so it can be handed over for printing.

Am I nervous? Who, me? No way. I'm not nervous... I'm terrified.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

http://www.amazon.com/cut-Short-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

ROAD CLOSED can be preordered on amazon.co.uk Thank you to everyone who has already preordered

My very own ISBN Number, Chapter 2

I have just seen ROAD CLOSED on amazon, publication 2nd June.

I've just remembered how I felt when I saw CUT SHORT listed.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710
What if no one likes it? What if everyone hates it?

My head is well and truly above the parapet now. There's no going back. That road is closed...

Oh all right, I admit it, I'm very excited at seeing my book on amazon. I'm now entering the period of waiting when I know that Road Closed is on track, and I don't have to worry for a few months about readers' reactions. I've got 5 months to wallow in self congratulatory limbo...

(But what if no one likes it?!?)